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Hosepipe ban, power washer, water butt, pump - X-post
"Chris Bacon" wrote in message ... michael adams wrote: "Chris Bacon" wrote... Water companies do not make the law. Nope. So long as they don't exceed the powers granted to them by the privatisiation legislation, they're as allowed to be as selective as they wish, in which particular provisions they choose to enact. As far as I know the only things that are banned are washing the car with a hosepipe, and watering the garden. If you've a pointer to a legal resource that says different, I'd like to read it, for interest. Right now under the 1999 legistlation Water Companies can apply to introduce compulsory water metering to restrict demand. And at least one - Dover if not more, has already done so. If things got really bad Water Companies are empowered to cut off domestic supplies altogether and install stand pipes. If there was any evidence that the use of hosepipes for supposedly innocent use was being abused, there's no doubt whatsover that the use of all hosepipes would be banned forthwith. And that such an eventuality was anticipated in the legislation, by a catch-all clause if nowhere else. michael adams .... I charge £45 per hour for documentation searches, with a minimum charge of £50. |
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Hosepipe ban, power washer, water butt, pump - X-post
In article , michael adams
wrote: "Chris Bacon" wrote in message ... michael adams wrote: "Chris Bacon" wrote... Water companies do not make the law. Nope. So long as they don't exceed the powers granted to them by the privatisiation legislation, they're as allowed to be as selective as they wish, in which particular provisions they choose to enact. As far as I know the only things that are banned are washing the car with a hosepipe, and watering the garden. If you've a pointer to a legal resource that says different, I'd like to read it, for interest. Right now under the 1999 legistlation Water Companies can apply to introduce compulsory water metering to restrict demand. And at least one - Dover if not more, has already done so. If things got really bad Water Companies are empowered to cut off domestic supplies altogether and install stand pipes. If there was any evidence that the use of hosepipes for supposedly innocent use was being abused, there's no doubt whatsover that the use of all hosepipes would be banned forthwith. And that such an eventuality was anticipated in the legislation, by a catch-all clause if nowhere else. The water companies have no power at all to ban all uses of domestic hosepipes. They do have the power to make exemptions from the proscribed prohibitions but they don't have the power to add new prohibitions even in an emergency. If they need to save more water they _must_ apply for a drought order to ban so-called non-essential uses which include window washing, irrigation of parks and sportsgrounds, filling ornamental ponds, etc. This process takes some weeks - the Secretary of State has to agree and there has to be a public enquiry. Three water companies applied for such a drought order a month or so ago but none has yet been granted or implemented. The next and final step thereafter would be to apply for an Emergency Drought Order which does give the water compnaies blanket powers to prohibit any use of water they want - and to make people queue up at standpipes to collect their water by the bucketfull. To put things in perspective, the outside tap uses 4% annually of all water supplied to households. Loo flushing uses 35%. Dishwashers, washing machines and power showers waste far more water than is ever put on the garden via a hosepipe. But the water companies don't have the power - except under an Emergency Drought Order - to ban uses of water inside the home. That's because it is classified as essential domestic use and it is their statutory obligation to supply it, even if most householders waste gallons of the stuff every day. Because the outside tap is not classified as 'domestic use' it is a soft target - indeed the only target for the water companies. But it isn't an effective one. Hosepipe bans don't save much water. Research by some of the water companies during the last drought showed that many households' water consumption _increased_ after a hosepipe ban. |
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